Newly Unsealed FBI Notes Show Trump Thanked Police for Epstein Probe, Called Ghislaine Maxwell His 'Evil Operative' (2 documents included)

Newly unsealed FBI interview notes from 2019 reveal that then businessman Donald Trump contacted Palm Beach Police Chief Michael Reiter in 2006 to thank law enforcement for investigating Jeffrey Epstein and to distance himself from the disgraced financier years before Epstein’s first criminal case concluded.

According to the documents, which stem from the 2005 to 2006 Florida investigation into Epstein’s abuse of minors, Trump told police that Epstein had been banned from Mar-a-Lago after Trump witnessed inappropriate interactions with teenage girls. Trump also described Ghislaine Maxwell as Epstein’s “evil operative,” a striking characterization that contrasts with claims that Trump was closely aligned with Epstein during the period under scrutiny.

The notes indicate Trump reached out directly to Palm Beach police to express gratitude for stopping Epstein, telling officers that “everyone has known he’s been doing this.” The records suggest Trump sought to put a clear distance between himself and Epstein early in the investigation, despite their prior social overlap in elite Palm Beach circles during the 1990s.

One portion of the court documents highlights the distinction Trump drew between his club and Epstein’s social environment. “Palm Beach Country Club is a Jewish country club. A lot of wealthy people are there, and they flock together,” the notes read. “Mar-a-Lago is a mixture of everyone. DONALD TRUMP told [redacted] that he threw EPSTEIN out of his club.”

The newly released material adds context to a long-running media narrative surrounding Trump’s past association with Epstein. Flight logs and photographs have shown Trump and Epstein in social settings prior to 2000, but the FBI notes suggest Trump cut ties well before Epstein became a national scandal and actively supported law enforcement efforts once allegations surfaced.

The disclosures come as renewed attention is focused on who knew what and when in the Epstein case, and which powerful figures took action versus those who remained silent. The documents portray Trump as one of the few high-profile individuals who openly praised police for pursuing Epstein and took steps to remove him from his social orbit years before Epstein’s crimes were fully exposed.